Caution Water Blog

Below you will see some of our blog posts. To see any older posts, hit the "previous" link, and to see any newer posts, hit "next".

Fri 17

AUG 2012

New boat - Laser 4000!

It's been too long! Life has gotten in the way, with a wedding imminent. In three weeks time, the Caution Water staff are tying the knot, yet I've still found time to buy a new boat...

A few weeks ago I purchased a Laser 4000. The Merlin got sold about a year ago (wonderful boat, but I couldn't look after it well enough, so am now looking for a GRP hull wooden deck one).

Why a Laser 4000? Well, I wanted something fast and whizzy, and it definitely fits the bill. Got it for the right price off Ebay, and after watching 2 weeks of olympic skiff sailing the mood was set. Becky hasn't sailed it with me yet (she doesn't want bruises or broken limbs before the wedding), but fortunately two people, Mya and her mom Carolyn, from down our club, were stupid/brave enough to try it with me.

We took it up to Bala for the day and took out a day membership at the sailing club there - very friendly bunch of people. This way we had a power boat keeping an eye on us in case we capsized. The wind was all over the place, but sailing a high performance tippy skiff was a lot easier than we thought (either that or we've nailed this sailing lark). When I tested it on our lake a few weeks ago, as soon as it came off the trailer it tried to fall over - but once it gets moving, it's steady as a rock. Gusty and shifty but light winds, the Laser 4k sails like a dream, and once the gennaker gets up, it just takes off.

Hopefully we'll get it up to Bala again after the wedding before the winter, but for now wedding plans take priority! Who knows, maybe we'll get a rigging guide up soon, they work well on one design boats like the 4k.